Systematic Student + YA

Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

This book was a free copy courtesy of the publisher. They sent me the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. And, stay tuned for an exciting giveaway!

Forget You by Jennifer Echols was a surprise to me. I saw this book popping up on several blogs and thought it looked like it would be a fun read, a little bit of fluff to break up the monotony. So, when given the opportunity to review this book, I took it. And I am so glad that I did. I haven't been this surprised by a book in a while. The characters in this story were far more complex and realistic than I expected, and there was far more depth to the the story than I had anticipated.

This novel had a brilliant cast of characters, most of whom were very well done. Zoey, our main character, felt like a real person to me. Her reactions to the traumatic situations she found herself in were very realistic and I thought her emotions translated from page to person very well. Doug was also pretty intense, but in a really good way. Although there were some moments when he was a little bit extreme, I generally thought he was really sweet. He always seemed like he was trying to take care of Zoey and like he was looking out for her. Ya, there were times when he was a little underhanded and sneaky about it, but I can't really seem to find it within myself to blame him.

I also thought that the story was wonderfully crafted in a way that made the events critical to flow of the story completely plausible. I loved that we were introduced to Zoey and got to know her before the car crash that took her memory from her. I don't think I would have enjoyed the story half as much as I did if I were to meet Zoey as she was waking up from the wreck, or the day after. Even though the wreck happens toward the beginning of the story, the information and character background we receive from and about Zoey is critical to understanding her actions later in the story.

My only major complaint with this novel was Zoey's incredible naivety regarding her boyfriend (and I use that term loosely) Brandon. In the beginning of the book, she mentions more than once that she knows Brandon better than anyone else, and that she is the one he talks to about his girl 'problems'. She knows exactly who and how he is but she seems to believe none of that matters now, with her because they started out as just friends. I found her blinders (and blind faith) a little hard to believe. She's just too smart and level-headed in other situations for me to really believe her on this one. I'm definitely with Doug there... Although I did have a hard time believing that Zoey would really be that naive, Echols does a good enough job setting the stage for it that I'm willing to overlook it. Zoey is really struggling to come to terms with her life right now and she's trying to figure out how to just get through each day. It makes sense that she would look for someone to lean on, or lose herself in. But, she was still to adamant about that relationship. And I don't much care for him anyway.

With the rest of the characters, I feel like Echols gave them just enough personality of their own that they weren't quite stock characters forced to rely on cultural stereotypes to have anything to offer. And that worked for this novel. The focus should have been on Zoey individually, and then together with Doug. Which it was. Brilliant! Too often in this genre I see authors too caught up in one extreme or the other. They tend to focus so much on the romantic couple that the secondary characters barely get more than a name and a label or, they take the entirely opposite position and give their secondary characters so much personality, background and time that it becomes tedious and awkward. Echols somehow managed to find what I think is just about the perfect balance between the two. Not all of the characters are equally important, and I feel we got to see as much of their personality as their importance warranted.

Overall, I think this book was a great read, one I'm glad I had the opportunity to pick it up. This is a great novel to pick up when you are in the mood for a fairly light read, but it also makes you think. This story raises some tough questions, things that a lot of YA books in this genre don't even try to handle. I loved that this book gave us a story with meat to it while still being an enjoyable read about a young teen romance. For those of you still looking for a great beach read, I would recommend giving this one a shot.

Thanks again to the publisher for sending me my review copy!

in my blog to read my interview with Jennifer Echols!

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Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols + YA